


Never had a friend like me

by ifreet



Category: due South
Genre: Community: ds_aprilfools, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-13
Updated: 2011-05-13
Packaged: 2017-10-19 09:08:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/199205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifreet/pseuds/ifreet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For ds_aprilfools, prompt 13 - missing person. A continuation of <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/123574">Phenomenal Cosmic Powers (itty bitty living space)</a> and therefore randomly AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never had a friend like me

The third time Vecchio came to his apartment, Ray had to take a minute to remind himself that they were not dating. N-o-t, not. They were partners and maybe hopefully friends now that most of the Fraser weirdness was out in the open, now that Fraser had fucked off to who-knew-where. Not dating.

Even if Vecchio had lit up when he saw him and Dief in the hallway. Vecchio had probably just been worried about his _partner_ who had been acting weird the day before. And Ray had been pretty messed up post-Stella, so it's not like there wasn't precedent there. Not that he and Fraser had -- okay, there'd been a moment, maybe, when he and Fraser could have been something other than 'partners and friends' but the genie thing had put the kibosh on that. Exhibit A: the speed at which Fraser had taken off when he could. Vecchio probably thought he had reason to be worried about him.

So Ray just smiled at him and let him into the apartment -- which was warm and normal and not snowy at all, and he didn't miss that even if the apartment had seemed emptier without Fraser. Empty enough that he'd maybe taken Dief on a couple more walks than strictly necessary, judging by the grumble as Dief hopped into his favorite chair and curled up. Vecchio dumped the brown grocery bag into Ray's arms as he hung his coat on the hook inside the door and then laid his suit jacket carefully over the back of the sofa, complaining the entire time like it was an Olympic Sport and he was going for gold. Ray followed Vecchio to the kitchen and watched as Vecchio made himself at home, rolling up his sleeves, banging around in cupboards and drawers. Ray settled onto one of his bar stools and let Vecchio's complaints wash over him. It was kind of soothing, a steady stream of _The grocery store was out of fresh basil, can you believe it? I don't know what was with the idiots on the road, it wasn't even raining today. Welsh is on a tear; I think Frannie replaced his coffee with decaf. You don't have a colander? How does a theoretically grown man live without a colander?_

"Missed you today," Vecchio said to the sink, as he poured steaming water off the potatoes. Just put it out there in the same matter-of-fact tone as the preceding complaints.

"Yeah," Ray said into the pause, suddenly finding the counter top pretty interesting. It had speckles. "Me, too. I mean, I missed you." When he looked up, Vecchio was concentrating on stirring something on the stove, a small smile on his lips.

Huh. Maybe they were dating after all.


End file.
